


Salvaging Tony

by PenPatronusAooO



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Bromance, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Tony, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Male Friendship, Nightmares, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Steve, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, desperate steve, worried steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:33:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6036283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenPatronusAooO/pseuds/PenPatronusAooO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve goes looking for the injured Tony after the Battle of Sokovia. Missing scene from "Avengers: Age of Ultron."</p><p>STORY COMPLETE!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salvaging Tony

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published as part 2 of "Salvage" on FFnet.

A brief list of the initial consequences of blowing up an artificial asteroid: earthquake-like aftershocks, rogue clouds of debris, a fried communications grid, and unpredictable weather. At four in the morning in the forest, Steve Rogers was primarily affected by the latter pair. After venturing from the Helicarrier ahead of the official rescue teams, Steve was cut off from all coms and left to deal with intense wind one moment followed by a downpour of rain the next. The water mixed with dust and dirt in the air, which turned it into mud by the time it hit Steve's nose. Any man in his right mind would retreat back to a cozy cabin in the Helicarrier, or at least get an umbrella, but Steve was operating by heart more than mind at the moment. After the day's near apocalyptic events everyone was accounted for except for Tony Stark. When Rhodes found Thor beached like a whale on the lakeshore, the demigod reported that Stark was intact when he last heard. The last thing any witness saw was the Iron Man suit weaving between falling buildings.

Maybe Stark was still intact, but his armor certainly wasn't. Steve was tracking various pieces of red and gold machinery through the woods like it was a breadcrumb trail. A hinge here, a sprocket there, half of a pinky finger twenty yards later barely visible in a blossoming mud puddle… Desperation tightened around Steve's heart like a noose when he found a two-by-four plate of armor slick with blood. "Stark!" he hollered at the deaf, dark forest with all of his super-soldier volume. "Stark! Tony!"

He knew he was getting closer to his missing teammate when there were more tree limbs on the ground than attached to trunks. The top of one pine was burning like a candle on a birthday cake. Steve started to run at that point. Considering the mud-rain and wind bearing down on the countryside there was no way that candle would still be burning if it wasn't doused with chemicals first. The suit was leaking, falling apart, possibly on fire and…

"There you are," Steve gasped when he spotted a crater fifty yards ahead. He broke into a sprint and reached the crash site in seconds. A long trench that gradually dug deeper into the dirt preceded a Hulk-sized hole where the armor finally came to a stop. What was left of it was vaguely man-shaped, still smoking slightly from the friction, and face down in the mud. Steve tossed his shield aside and leapt feet-first into the muddy crater. Kicking singed red and gold metals aside, wading ankle-deep through mud thick as gravy, Steve made it to the suit and flipped it over onto its back. Déjà vu itched in the back of his brain. Again he was leaning over Tony Stark's still body wondering if he was alive oh please god I can't do this without—

"St…Steve…"

Tony was dreaming. Steve could tell by way his lips twitched and his eyebrows danced. The few square feet of armor left on him did not include his helmet or faceplate. Mud and muck coated the black flight suit he sometimes wore beneath the armor. When Steve started wiping away mud, looking for skin, he found blood.

"Steve…" Tony whispered louder.

"Tony?" Rogers straightened in his kneeling position, hopeful that Stark was waking up.

"No," Tony mumbled. "No not you, not you…"

Cap gently tapped Tony's cheek. "Tony, wake up. I gotta get you out of here."

Tony started to thrash when Steve touched his swollen, possibly broken hands. "'s my fault," he muttered. "I'm sorry – Steve, I'm so sorry…" A gradual wince spread across Tony's features until he was all one big frown. The more he spoke the more his bottom lip drowned in blood. "Sorry…"

Where's the Hulk when I need him? Steve wondered. His eye twitched when he remembered exactly – well, not quite exactly – where Bruce was. There would be time to mourn later after Tony was literally out of the woods. "Sorry about this," Steve whispered, and then he smacked Tony so hard across the face that mud splashed in every direction. Tony woke up swinging. Eyes open but too wide, mouth moving but not speaking, body trembling more and more as he surveyed the destruction around him. Panicking – an actual panic attack?

"Cap!" Tony cried, his eyes looking everywhere but at Rogers.

Steve took his friend's face between his two large, calloused palms and forced their eyes to meet. "Tony, I'm right here – It's over – Tell me where you're hurt."

It took half a minute for Tony to get his bearings and focus on the man holding him. "Cap," he gasped, when the final puzzle pieces fell into place. Muddy, bloody hands poked at Steve's uniform, clawed at his skin and then, finally, his fingers landed on the pulse point in Steve's throat. "You're alive." He said it out loud twice as if trying to convince himself that it was true. "I was dreaming…"

"About what?" Steve whispered. He cupped Tony's cheek and rubbed the side of his thumb against his jawbone. "Tony, what is it?" Steve answered his own question then. Or rather, he interpreted the look on Tony's face and rephrased. "Are you ever going to tell me what the witch made you see?"

Tony was suddenly, terribly coherent. "You wanna know what I saw that made me do something stupid?" he quoted. "I saw you." Stark fought his way up into a sitting position. Steve let him, but didn't remove his hands from his shoulders. "I felt you—" Tony started to say before his voice broke. A wet, shaky exhale followed a wet, shaky inhale, and Tony suddenly reached up and pulled their foreheads together. "Cold world. Bruce skewered. Clint, Natasha, Thor… they were all dead. And you took my hand, and you told me that I could've stopped it, I could've saved you all and then… I saw you die, Cap. I felt you die."

Steve let instinct rather than society's construct of "manliness" guide him. He wrapped his arms around Tony and pulled him into a deep, strong-but-gentle hug. "That's your worst nightmare?" he whispered in Tony's ear. "I'm sorry… If I saw you like that I – I'd do something drastic, too."

"I f-failed," Tony stammered. "It was my fault – this is my fault. Every time I try to fix something I make it w-worse and you – you and the team – you'll all die and it will be my fault, my fault, my fault…"

Steve leaned back and wiped the mud away from one half of Tony's face and blood from the other. "I'm here. I'm all right, you're all right, the team is…" He hesitated.

Tony anxiety went up a notch. "Tell me they're ok." He swallowed audibly. "Steve, tell me our team is ok. Thor?"

"He took a hard hit but he's all right," Steve said quickly. "Just stunned. Pietro… Pietro was killed. He saved Clint. Thank God, he saved Clint."

"Clint is—"

"He's alive." Steve spoke slowly and clearly to make sure that Tony understood. "He got shot under the ribs but he'll make a full recovery. Romanoff, too. She took a hit in the hip but—"

"Bruce. Where is - I wanna see Bruce." Tony braced his arms against Steve's shoulders and pushed himself up onto wobbly feet. "Where's Banner?"

Steve rose with Tony and kept him steady. "Tony he's not – he's not here. He's alive!" he explained quickly when Tony looked so panicked it seemed inevitable that he would explode. "There's no reason to think he isn't alive."

"What happened?" Tony choked.

"He left. The Hulk got into the jet. He just kept flying. He left."

Tony swayed. "Why?" he asked himself out loud. Answering out loud he whispered, "My fault. Angry with me – doesn't trust me."

"Talk to Natasha. Talk to Natasha about it when we get home."

"He doesn't have to hide," Tony insisted. "I'll, I'll fix it. I'll make Veronica better, stronger. I'll make sure nobody is hurt every again – I swear! Steve, tell him I'll fix it!"

Tony's knees gave out, then, and Steve yanked his left arm across his shoulders and held him up. "Let's get you back to the Helicarrier." At the dazed, depressed look on Stark's face he said, "Give Banner some time. It's not like we'll never see him again. It'll be ok."

"My best friend just abandoned us," Tony muttered. "And how many civilians died today because of me? I have to fix it. I have to fix it all."

Steve had started to drag Tony away from the crater but he halted right then and looked into his friend's eyes. "Tony, listen to me. I need you to understand that you are not an "I" anymore. You're not alone. It's "we." It's "us." And I promise you, we will do what we can fix it."

"Together?" Tony whispered, echoing the lesson he'd learned.

"That's right," Steve replied, "together."

Tony stared at him for a long moment, swallowed the air in his throat and whispered, "Just don't die, Steve. Look at me… Just the thought of it is killing me." That sentence burned the last of Tony's adrenaline away. His eyes disappeared back into his skull and he slumped against Steve's chest. Cap held him for a moment. He lifted his face up to the muddy rain and let the wind do its best to blow them over. It didn't. It couldn't. It never would.

With a sigh, Steve gently situated Tony's unconscious body over his shoulder, scooped up his shield, and started marching back to the Helicarrier.

**The End**


End file.
